LEXIE

i experience the same noise/location in my 93sc400 and coincidently heard it yesterday and was going to post the question today. lexie

herb-- ditto here re your experience. i also have a 93sc400 and half my store bought cd's would err. i copied those to imation cd-r disks at low copy speeds, as well as stuff off the net (before the legality issue arose), and all copies play perfectly. never have used a cd cleaning disk to date...maybe i should as a preventive measure. lexie

tck-- i agree with monarch... do not convert to 134. find you a can of r12 somewhereand add about half as suggested. use your a/c for a couple of weeks to get a good feel for any improvements in efficiency. if necessary, add the remaining. i had 10 years on my sc400 (r12) before it needed a top off. i would recommend you NOTadd stopleak. your leak, if any, is probably micro in nature and it could be another 10 yrs before another recharge is needed. don't junk your system up with additives. lexie

thx for all of your replys. i guess i was too lazy to look in the owners manual but after redrockets post i checked and it mentions the mech squeal sensors. since my car is '93 vintage, it apparently does not have the electronic sensors. will keep close tab on pads at my routine tire rotations. L

are there sensors that detect when your brake pads get too thin.... would i get a message or some type of code readout display on intrument cluster. '93sc400

is there a sensor on my '93 sc400 that would alert me when my rear brake pads reach the "relpacement needed" stage.

ok fellows, you have convinced me...going back to full bore 93 on next fill up. thx for all of the replies....maybe part of the reason i have only spent $2350 in total cost for maintenance and repairs over the past 12 yrs is due to use of high grade fuel. L

how great is lexus quality?? first, i would like to know if anyone on this board has an older car with less miles than mine. not initiating a contest but just curious. bought my 93 sc400 in nov of '92 and i have 62,800 miles as of today. my car has been garage kept but despite that and the low milage i am amazed at the low total cost for upkeep this car has imposed on me to date. i keep accurate records and to date i have spent $2350 on this car which includes the following fluid changes: 22 oil, 4 coolant, 2 transmission, 1 differential. also includes 4 new tires, replacement of a stv valve(a/c related..i did most of the work), power steering seal replacement (again me on the wrench). other incidentals include air filters, serpt fan belt, windshield wipers, etc. my original cd system still works perfectly. my leather seats look great with some wear showing on driver's side. dash lights all ok except for one area on tach around 7k rpm. two small hairline fractures on left side of center air vent which is a common known defect for this vintage lexus. body paint quality a bit questionalbe due to chipping. i only water wash and have never had it waxed and it almost looks new except for its susceptibility to nicks from flying stones... probably 10 or so pits which i have covered with touch up paint ( predominitely hood) . maybe someday i will do the $3000 repaint but for now it still maintains a fairly new car look. i looked at my timing belt the other day and it apprears like new top and underneath so i should be good to maybe 100k mi on that. my brakes are due in about another 5-10k mi but that would be expected. bottom line.. i would buy lexus again without reservation if i should ever go for another car but why should i do that when what i am driving today is probably good for at least another 12 years. L

skp 80 km per tank is a significant gain in miles/gal..approx 2.5 if you assume a 20 gal tank. this would make it a wash if i were saving say 20 cents per gallon less for 87 vs 93 at approx $2/gal. so, if i were to experience the same gain/loss in mpgal..depending on which octane i were using.. then it is obvious that i would be better off sticking with the high oct and not having to worry about potential problems cropping up while at the same time maintaing peak perf. i guess i will have to do a mileage check but i suspect my difference between the two grades will not be as significant due to my driving habits. if i see even a 1mpgal change, i will go back to the high oct. thx for the replys. L

I would really like to get a simplified answer with some technical backing regarding the choice of octane level I am presently using in my '93SC400. Several months ago a reputable car analyst, Bobby Likis, who has a national talk show said that if you are not a performance bug you can use a lower octane gas w/o harming your car. I have since gone from full bore 93 oct to 87 and have not seen any loss of performance even when I press the car. I am a predominately town driver and rarely get my rpm's above 2000. I hear comments like if you can afford a Lexus then why worry about the extra cost to go high oct or, the Lexus people highly recommend max oct level for max performance..sure what else could they say.. and your car has an automatic sensor to adjust timing to oct level curently being used(i like that that little deal) so thats why you dont hear pinging when you "push" it. Neat design feature. Well, because I worried about a penny here and a penny there made it possible for me to own the Lexus I have today so yes my nature says 20 cents per gallon is important especially when I see not one sign of deterioraton in my old- man style of driving. And yes, if being purist in nature and going strictly by what the Lexus manual says makes you feel more confident well I can understand that issue. Other than opinion, can someone confidently say that I am going to carbonize my engine, screw my valves up, overload the system, etc.. by using lower octane or is it just a subtle loss in performance, which I don't really care about, when using lower oct gas. L

i have a '93 sc400 and have just gone thru my 3rd full tank of 87 octane down from 93 and i absolutely see no difference in performance. i dont "rod" a car and prob stay under 2000 rpm most of the time but even when i step down hard there is no "pinging" so to speak. i do mostly town driving and cannot attest to any milage/gal change but i just love the 20 cents per gal savings. L

i am very happy with my '93 sc400 which only has 62k miles. except for the p/s pump which i repaired wirh a kit, no problems. i personally would not sell for 10 grand but you should be able to find lots of good buys out there for much less. go for it, you will not be sorry provided you can find one that had proper maintenance by previous owner(s). L

do i have the distinct honor of being the oldest member on board... will be 68 this november. thank God i can still do all the liquid changeouts and even some fairly difficult things like repair the p/s pump and replace the a/c stv vlave.. mainly because knowledge and help from this forum. maybe i'm the one who should have the handle "grandpa". L ps--some consolation...people guess me to be around 50, or maybe they are just being nice.

68 yr old retired chem engr. worked 34 yrs at same plant in positions ranging from process development engineer to mngr of the r&d department. our plant produced synthetic acrylic fiber. upon retiring in '93, i told my wife i was going to bite the bullet and get a maintenance free car that i can keep forever and bought the sc400 with no regrets to date. still have my '65 mustang i bought as original owner..only 95k orig miles and in mint condition. when i see a winner auto i keep forever. just the idea of not having to go for maintenance repairs once per month like bmw and mercedes owners should be signal enuf to buyers out there that want luxuery/quality/performance and peace of mind all wrapped into one package. aren't we an intelligent breed.

gp-- i dont want to sound disrespectful here but you started out with an a/c problem, then we moved to an engine coolant situation and now we are on oil filter location. there is nothing wrong with the diy approach but it would seem prudent to solve one problem at a time then go to the next to keep confusion to a minimum. you surely dont want to overload here in one week since i see you have been a member for nearly a year. nontheless, it is nice you have taken an interest to do these things on your own. L

gp-- vmf was referring to $300 for the cost of a vac pump. if your a/c man will pull a near perfect vac on your system and it holds, chances are any leak you may have is probably a very slow one. if he flushes the system and will use a compatible oil with the 134a refrigerant charge, i still think you would probably make out fine. i dont particularly care for r134a but it should be more than adequate in cooling efficiency for your car provided you have a compentent a/c man doing the conversion. ask him if he plans on changing out the receiver/drier...kind of doubt it at $90 but even if not it still may be a good route to take considering other options like recharging again with r12 at 60-$70/lb refig cost and by the time you add labor for flush/vac/charge your probably going to exceed $200. And if you do indeed have a very slow leak like every to yrs for a recharge, you are only talking about $15 dollars for 134a vs $150 for R12, just my thoughts.. L

grandpa-- just from reading your posts i think you should jump on the $90 conversion to 134a and learn about a/c dyi at a more leisurely pace. see web site below. and, while you have your car in the a/c shop, just ask the tech man there if you are low on antifreeze coolant. you sure dont want your engine to overheat for such a simple thing as that. this "problem" is independent of your a/c problem. lexie http://www.ackits.com/forum/messageview.cf...2&threadid=9404

i have 12 cd's i burned loaded in my '93 sc400 player and have had no problems. actually the commercial cd's erred on me quite often so i went to the burned jobs...imation virgin disks. as dc said, u can not burn on rw disks and expect ur car player to read. L

Jump on it. My 93 sc400 only has 62k miles on it and I consider it in excellent condition and the pics u show look as good as mine. I would not part with my car for even $12k..just barely broke in at 62k and 113k is probably not even at the half way point of its functional life. L

my cd player is now 12 yrs old. i bought a burner about 3 yrs ago and before all this legal stuff came around i burned a bunch of stuff. i used imation virgin cd's at avg cost of maybe 25 cents/per. my 12 unit cd changer is now loaded with all burned cd's and i have not had one "err" message since i replaced all the commercial cd's with the the "home made jobs'. it was like before, i would encounter an "err" at least 2 or 3 times a day and not necessarily the same cd. maybe coincidence but i am happy with the results. lexie

gs-- i just hate to hear stories like this. 1600 big ones to do a job which i would think probably only involves a small pump leak which could be repaired with a couple new o-rings. ask your dealership specifically where the leak is. i'm betting it is only the pump and if you have a fairly competent local mechanic, he could do a seal replacement job for the cost of the seal kit...$30 and whatever labor cost he charges ...i doubt over $300 at most. there are big ripoffs with dealers re replacement parts u dont need. they get their markup for the parts (not needed to begin with) and then charge u to install more stuff u dont needl..if they ever get installed. remember, sales are sales whether it is the suede shoe operators out there trying to sell you a car or someone selling services. they have their quotas to meet..lot of pressure. dont fall prey, lexie

gs-- i just hate to hear stories like this. 1600 big ones to do a job which i would think probably only involves a small pump leak which could be repaired with a couple new o-rings. ask your dealership specifically where the leak is. i'm betting it is a am

dc-- some comments from a previous post i made ---------------------------- i was doing some research on replacing the bulbs in my dash and went to the clublexus forum for any info that might help re this subject. i found this series of posts and strangely enuf the first post asked the following question: "It looks like 2 bulbs have burnt out in my cluster....the one that lights up the 60 and 80mph areas on the speedometer, and then I have one burnt out at the 5-6k range on the tach. Does anyone have part numbers for these bulbs? Id assume they are the same bulb." these were the exact same bulbs (area) that were dark on both my speedo and tach. well, the next post gave the part number and another the oem bulb price and another commented on buying replacement bulbs for 2-3 bucks at auto zone and a few more posts about replacing the bulbs and then this guy posts a real bomb. he says, "you may be supprised but if you just give your dash a couple of hard pounds, this can revive the lights". so, the guy apparently followed his advice and lo and behold his lights came back to life. i couldn't wait to get to my machine ('93 sc400..same as the guy above) and try this masterful stroke of genius. i fired the car up and, altho i am not one for beating on any part of the car, i gave the dash a nice volley of blows and would you believe... both dark areas came to life. the originator of this unique cost saving approach to dash light repair also said that most likely the lights will fade again but a occasional nice blow will restore them. no problem with that. hey, there is more. i go back in the house and am pondering what more i need to do to have my total lighting system back to complete normal. well, there was only one other area that was dark(1/2 out) and that was the a/c led display, which seems to be another vulnerable spot for my model car. back out to the chine, crank it up and lay a couple of nice ones to the area just above the a/c display and for the first time in 4 yrs, the whole unit came to vibrant life. guys, tell me... can it get any better than this considering i was just about to pull the dash out for bulb replacement and also redo the a/c display, which i think requires soldering to correct. ----------------------------- it may be worth a try on your part. lexie

scguy-- have you determined specifically what went wrong with the unit. is the laser out ?? have you tried cleaning it with ammonia, windex or similar cleaning agent. i have restored several home players by cleaning the head this way. fortunately my changer unit in sc400(near 12 yrs old) is still going but if it ever acts up on me, i will attempt a clean job. btw, where does the firm there in miami get their parts to rebuid the old units??? must be a source someplace for them if u could find out. all in all tho, $285 doesnt sound that really bad if the reputation is truly good as you say. lexie

z30-- i did the seal repair last month. here are the part #'s for '93 sc400, not sure if same for your car: gasket repair kit................................L04446-24012.....$23.52 copper gasket(hi press side)...............L44327-26020...$1.70 i hate to be so stupid here but why do i have the orange squares and the warning 0% stuff in my logo box. what does it mean.. did i abuse language or is it bcause i recommended an outlet where i buy my lexus parts. if it is ok to give lexus parts info..address, pH#, and sales person to contact i can give you this info. i dont want to break any established rules. altho it took me a long time, the repair went smoothly. hope this helps and of course have your vin # at hand when you order parts. lexie